It smelled new.

Griff’s impression of the Sovereignty Congress Chamber was it smelled new. The chamber was huge, with seats for dozens of people.

Dozens.

It was true, the Sovereignty was still growing, and that meant it had a small government. With Council-Leader Grissm’s attempted mutiny, that split the old Outer-Rim Federation, there had been a lot of agreement with him. There were some who viewed Griff as a tyrant, a dictator, another Emperor Palpatine. There were even some bets as to how long it would be before he declared himself ruler of the Galaxy.

Griff sighed at that.

One Palpatine was enough. Griff had seen enough of that kind of ‘government’.

The whole ‘Senate’ idea was getting old. The Old Republic was governed by a senate, which was it’s primary point of downfall. A senate was too many voices, and as proved by the New Republic and the Old Republic, too many voices often meant too many disagreeing voices.

Griff did not want to place the Sovereignty under the rule of many voices, some of which could be dissident ones. No, he would much rather govern his creation himself.

But the Sovereignty also stood for right of free speech, and there were too many who took that particular right for granted. There were many voices who suggested that Griff could not rule the Sovereignty himself, and it must be done by a large body of competent rulers.

Competent. Interesting concept.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very common one. Griff would consider himself competent, and many would agree that he could run the Sovereignty with ease. But then those voices rose up like a thunder, demanding a senate, a council.

Or a Congress.

He had two choices. One, he could give the reigns over to Congress and let them run the show. Or Two, he could rule it himself, with no ties holding him down. However, his wife had always told him something. She had said that when you cannot decide between two paths, take the third choice.

Compromise.

It was the best thing to do. Why not combine both forms of government? Perhaps that would be effective.So now here he was, preparing to present his proposal to Sovereign Congress.

His aide, Anaka followed close behind him, holding various folders, papers, datapads, and other documents. Griff himself only carried the folder that held his proposal. His Shi’ido bodyguard, Aeon, followed a comfortable distance behind him, always on the alert, always watching for trouble.

Griff walked to the center of the large room, to the podium, and placed his paper down, and began to read off some last lines of it. The members of Congress were busily taking their seats. This was the first assembly of the congregation, and they were all eager to begin.

The members of Congress consisted of two representatives from each Sovereignty world, and their aides. Also, there were representatives from the different branches of the government, Supply and Procurement, Humanitarian Services, the Military, the Judicial Branch and so forth. They all had assigned seats, and there were also many reporters as well, waiting to take notes and so forth. Griff had stated that the media was allowed access to the general discussions, but when it came to matters of secrecy, he had stated clearly that the media would not be welcome.

But so far, everything was going good. Griff just repeated to himself, All Governments are new at one point. There is unity in diversity.

He leaned forward so the microphone would amplify his voice to the assembled masses.

“Let the first session of the Outer-Rim Sovereignty come to order…”

He went on for about an hour or so, speaking on the current state of the Sovereignty, the planets that had applied for membership, status on humanitarian service on farther reaching worlds, and most importantly, the Honoghr Cleanup Project. Finally, he called a recess and told Anaka to inform the media that they must leave.

After a half an hour he finally brought up the subject that he had come to speak about.

“As you all may or may not know, I have been accused on several occasions of being a tyrant, a potential oppressor. And I know the accusations come from one thing: The Sovereignty not having a stable government. The reason that you are all here, is because I have come to lay all that controversy to rest.


“There are three choices we can have. I can place all my powers under Congress and let it be the ruling entity. I can rule the Sovereignty myself, like I have been accused of doing, and what I have been doing since the capture of Sace Grissm. I merely hold those powers in trust. The Sovereignty was brand new, a fledging organization. When we finally put an end of the Civil War, we were not even considered a government. I had resolved to hold these powers in trust, to get the Sovereignty on it’s feet, and then we could decide a course of action regarding the government. We need a solid ruling force behind us, behind the military, behind the agricultural services, the humanitarian services. We are nothing without a solid foundation. I have come here today to propose that very foundation.

“We can be strong! If we stand together. One man cannot rule a nation, as proven by Palpatine. But as the Galactic Republics have shown neither can a Senate. The only way we can remain strong is if we join the best of both worlds together as one!”




“How does it go?”

“Good. Congress agreed with me. The proposal has been voted on. The measure will pass, and we will be strong.” Griff said.

Admiral Keyan nodded over his glass of the finest Corellian Brandy.

“We must move quickly, to show the Outer-Rim Territories, the Galaxy as a whole that we are strong.” Keyan said.

Griff poured his own glass of brandy and took a seat opposite Keyan.

“What do you have in mind?” He asked.

“There is a world, one that dear old Joren Logan mentioned once. It is a world called ‘Af’El’”

Griff had heard the name before, but it didn’t ring a bell immediately. He remembered back, of his study of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s tactics. Thrawn had used a man named ‘Niles Ferrier’ to discover the location of the infamous Katana fleet.

“If my memory serves correctly, Af’Fel is the homeworld to the Defel.” Griff stated, unsure of his answer.

“Actually, you are correct. We did not have it’s location until we received the files given to us by President Briar. Apparently the Defel are allies with the Narcati.” Keyan said.

Now that was a name Griff did remember. The Narcati were a insect-like species, that had started a war with the Shi’ido of Sh’shuun some time ago. They were extremely warlike and had a severe dislike of the Shi’ido. Sh’shuun would have been conquered by them if it hadn’t been for the Sovereignty’s interjection. A half squadron of Birds of Prey under Griff’s very command had defeated a Narcait invasion force.

Captain Tomas scoffed at the sight.

“So this is Af’El. What a waste.” He said, looking at the forward viewports at the grayish planet rotating slowly before the Bird of Prey Wraith Seven.

Then planet was large, with sensors identifying it to have high gravity. It orbited the supergiant Ka’Dedus, and had no ozone layer. As a result, ultraviolet light was allowed to pass freely to the surface of the planet, and as a result, all natives of Af’El could only see in ultraviolet light spectrums.

The native inhabitants are the Defel, sometimes called ‘wraiths’ because their bodies absorb all visible light, giving them the appearance of shadows. The Defel live underground, because violent storms continuously plague the surface of the world.

And the only major export from Af”El is the metal substance meleenium, that is a prime factor in durasteel. Tomas noted that if the Sovereignty secured the world, then they would be able to attain an edge on the durasteel market. It was also located near Sh’shuun, which would gain them a strategic edge in their war with the Narcati Confederacy.

Tomas had received word a week ago, while the Wraith Seven was in drydock, that his orders were to proceed to Af”El and ascertain the strength of the Narcati forces at Defel. Now he was here, and was already hating his mission.

“Scan the area for Narcati vessels.” He ordered.

“Already done sir. I have five Narcati vessels in orbit of Af’El on my scanners, sir. Only one is Raptor-class and the rest are about forty-five meters each, moderately armed with two turbolaser-type weapons and one projectile launcher. The Raptor is armed with destructors, turbolasers, and projectile launchers.

Destructors. Nasty weapons, it was essentially a projectile launcher that homed in on its target and unleashed massive quantities of energy. The first time Sovereignty forces had met the Narcati in battle, they were almost defeated due to the destructor weapons. Only the usage of President Griff’s personal battle strategies had scored a victory for Sovereignty troops.

“Have they detected any trace of us?”

“No sir, cloaking device is holding within normal parameters.” The Cloak officer reported.

“Okay, send a signal to the rest of the party, I want to speak with Admiral Keyan.” Tomas said, getting up and heading for the conference room.

He sat down at the table in the conference room and after a moment, a slightly burred hologram of Admiral Keyan took shaoe in front of him.

“Captain Tomas, report.” He said.

“We have detected five Narcati vessels in orbit sir. One Raptor and the rest are unknowns.”

“Status of the unknowns?”

“Small, sir. Nothing of major consequence.”

“I see. What do you recommend?”

“The Oracle and two Birds of Prey, sir. That should be more than enough.”

“Yes. I was thinking the same thing. Hold your position and continue scanning. We are finishing up some final matters here. We will signal you when ready, and I expect you to issue a final report before the assault commences.” Keyan told him.

“It will be done dir.”

“Good. Keyan out.”

Tomas stood and entered the bridge again.

“Anything new, Bren?” He asked the sensor operator, coming up behind the man.

“Yes. The Narcati Raptor just launched three troop transports, accompanied by two squadrons of Insects.

‘Insects’ was the word given to the Narcati bombers, by the ORS military.

“Twenty-four insects and three troop transports? Where are their projected landing sites?”

“On the southern continent, near one very large mountain.”

“A mountain by itself?”

“Yes sir.”

“Interesting.”




“Status report.” Keyan asked his Battle Coordinator, Captain Geoff.

“The Rampage Eight and Avatar Three report battle ready, All systems on the Oracle are go. Turbolasers are charged, torpedo and missile bays loaded and ready to fire.”

“Excellent. We shall wait for the signal from the Wraith Seven. I want all ship’s navigational heading to be set straight to Af’El. I want somebody to push a button and us be there.” He said.

The Oracle and it’s two supporting Birds of Prey was sitting at the very edge of the Ka’Dedus system, awaiting the other Bird of Prey’s final signal to begin the assault on the Narcati vessels orbiting Af’El.

“It is being done sir. What do you expect us to find?”

“Hopefully, the Narcati will be surprised, and be slow to respond. But my worry is they may land some ground forces and this could get ugly on the surface. Particularly with the Defel down there. You aren’t suppose to see them, any more than you can spot a shadow in the dark.” He said.

Little did he know that that very thing was happening on Af’El right now…

Something started beeping on the comm. officer’s console, and a red flashing was going off. The comm. officer read the text that scrolled down his screen and suddenly tpun around to face Keyan.

“Sir the Wraith Seven is signaling. All clear, and they are ready to begin the attack.”

Keyan grinned.

“Excellent! Let us not keep our adversaries waiting. Helm: Execute.” He said.

All three ships disappeared into hyperspace…

Griff took his seat at the large desk that had been provided for him for his office. He was wearing a simple black tunic with the scorpion insignia of the Sovereignty prominently displayed on the right side of his chest. He looked down at his prewritten speech that had been prepared for his address.

The holocamera operator signaled, and the light on the camera winked on.

Griff folded his hands in front of him an placed them on the desk.

“There is a time in every nation’s path, when a government must choose between the good of the people, and the will of the people.”

He paused and looked down at his speech for a moment, and then back up.

“In this case, with our new government taking shape, and solidifying it’s foundation, it is the will of the people that will prevail. I have received disturbing reports from scattered Sovereignty sources of a new threat to the stability of our nation. The Narcati Confederation is ruthless. We have received confirmed reports of Narcati ships enslaving entire worlds.

“The Sovereignty has been watching this go on for some time. And it is to my eternal regret that we have done nothing before about this menace. But it will go on no longer. We have recently liberated an embattled people from the Narcati’s merciless tactics and weapons. I am coming before you today, citizens of the Outer-Rim Sovereignty, to ask for your support in ending the Narcati menace once and for all. We will show them that it is the will of the people that will prevail. Today I am declaring a state of war on the Narcati Confederation.

“This is merely the beginning of their end. We shall not stand by an let this continue. We will not let them continue their plans for conquest. Again, I am asking for the support of all the Sovereignty citizens, in helping me overcome the first bump in the road to a Sovereign government. Thank you.”

The camera light blinked off and the operator began to disassemble his equipment. Griff stood up and walked to the main common room outside his office where his various advisors and staff were watching his speech.

“How am I doing?” He asked Jevran Knoss, his political advisor.

“I think we may actually get a good vote on this one.” Knoss said, “But there is one thing you should know. Some members of Congress are joining or forming new political parties.”

Griff smiled slightly, “If you give a mouse a cookie”

He turned to Jevran.

“He’ll ask for a glass of milk.”

Jevran frowned at him. Griff sighed and tried something else.

“Ever heard the saying, “If you give Bothans a taste of the soup, they will be crawling all over each other to be in charge of the ladle.”

Jevran stared at him, “What?”

“It means that if you give a politician a taste of power, he is going to want the whole thing.”

Jevran nodded understanding, “There is another political party that is vying for the Presidential spot.”

“I know. But the election is not for another year.”

“They are getting ready for it.”

Griff waved him off, and turned to a staff member.

“Get me the reports on the Af’El incursion.” He said.

He was handed a stack of flimsiplast folders, and he flipped through them until he got to the most recent communiqué from Admiral Keyan.

“If this does not go well, Congress is going to walk all over you.” Jevran remarked offhandedly.

Griff didn’t look at him, “I initiated the Congressional Creation Act to dispel any belief that I am a tyrant. But that doesn’t mean I won’t keep a hold on their leash.” Griff said.

“Besides, this is for the people.”





Keyan studied his console as the Oracle and it’s escorting Birds of Prey exited hyperspace several thousand kilometers away from Af’El. The Narcati ships hung in orbit, just as Captain Tomas reported.

“Signal the Wraith Seven that they are clear.”

“Yes sir.”

He looked at his tactical holomap of the system, and noticed that the Raptor was slowly coming about at the sight of the Sovereignty task force. The smaller Narcati vessels formed a screen in front of the Raptor, but it was apparent that the Sovereignty forces had the element of surprise.

“Helm, bring us on a course that will take us through the screen and under the Raptor. Tactical, have all turbolasers and ion cannons revert to ventral firing angles only. And transfer power from the reserve batteries to the ventral shielding axis. Communications, get me comms with the rest of the fleet.”

The comm. officer signaled.

“Channel open.”

“Avatar Three, come about on a heading that brings you to the ventral port side of the Oracle, and prepare for strafing run on the ventral axis of the Narcati Raptor. [/i]Rampage Eight[/i], come about on the Oracle’s starboard side and prepare for strafing run on the ventral axis of the Raptor.”

He gave a chopping signal to cut the comms, he turned back to the crew pit.

“Fighter Control, launch all fighters and have them run interference for us. Try to angle them so they will draw the Narcati screen ships away from the Raptor.”

He got acknowledgements all around, as he continued to scan his tactical map.

“Fire!” Keyan shouted.

The Oracle’s concussion missile and torpedo compliments were shot out in front of the Star Destroyer on an upward trajectory. The projectiles slammed through the Narcati screenships, scrambling them, while the Oracle’s compliment of Tie Defenders began pummeling them.

“Coming into range.” Someone said.

“All weapons, fire!”

And as the Oracle dove underneath the Raptor, all turbolasers and ion cannond lanced out, hitting the underbelly of the craft while the Birds of Prey began strafing runs on the Raptor’s ventral axis.

“Raptor’s shields are down fifty percent.” Geoff reported.

“Come about. Lets have another pass at them.” Keyan said.

“Sir, Raptor has launched destructors.” Geoff said urgently.

“Evasives!” Keyan shouted.

But his order was too late, the powerful missile detonated against the Oracle’s forward shields. A huge jolt, as a result of the impact, knocked everyone on the bridge off their feet.

Keyan found himself on the ground, staring up at the black ceiling of the bridge. He heard alarms go off through the bridge.

“Report.” He shouted as he struggled to his knees. He looked around and saw everyone getting back up on their feet and to their stations.

“Forward shields took a beating.” Geoff reported, climbing back into his seat, “We cannot make another pass head on.”

Keyan sat bck down and looked at his holomap.

“Order the Birds to back off, and retreat in a direction that puts them aft of the Raptor. Also, push our engines to max, and retreat to the far side of the planet.”

“Ah…yes sir.” Geoff said.

Keyan turned to his operations officer.

“Prepare to jettison the garbage.” He said. The ops officer smiled and went about doing that.

“Sir, the Raptor is pursuing, and gaining on us.”

“Prepare to jettison our supply of mines that we were going to deliver to Tatooine.” He said.

“Sir, they are closing fast!”

“Jettison the garbage and the mines” He said.

And out of the aft containers of the Oracle, hundreds and hundreds of metallic and organic particles were dropped out, creating a large debris field.

“They are entering the debris field.”

“Detonate the mines.”

“Detonating now.”

The tactical officer looked down at his console and entered a series of numbers. As he did so, two hundred mines swarmed around the Raptor and, without much warning, detonated in a blinding display.

When the cloud of expanding debris dissipated, the Raptor was gone.

“They are destroyed.”

Keyan smiled.

“Oracle to Wraith Seven, what is your status?”

“This is Tomas. We have successfully entered the atmosphere, and are currently on route to the entrance of a system of underground dwellings. The Defel are there.”

“Understood. Keep me posted.”

“Yes sir.”




"Keep me posted."

"Yes sir" Tomas responded, leaning over the helm console of the Wraith Seven. The helm officer was hunched over the console as well, carefully entering a series of course corrections into the navigational computer. Tomas watched carefully at the forward viewports at the landscape flying by underneath the ship.

"Altitude?"

"One thousand feet."

"Okay, we are coming up on the mountans, try to get into there." He pointed to a gap in the mountains, where there was a nice little lake nestled into the craggy landscape.

"Okay, set her down over there, there is a large field there."

The helm officer carefully set the cloaked ship down. And to any causual observer, the only evidence of a ship were the multiple indentions into the soil of the world, that signified the presence of landing gear.

The ship settled down with a slight bump, and then the thrusters were cut.

"Okay, are the assault teams ready?." He asked the tactical officer.

"Yes sir, they are suited up and armed as per your orders." The tactical officer replied.

"Excellent. I think i'll join them."





"A desolate waste." Tomas said, looking around at Af'El through the transparent visor of the helmet of his enviro-battle suit.

The surface of Af'El was a rocky wasteland. Due to the lack of an ozone layer in the atmosphere, destructive rays from the system's sun was allowed to travel freely to the surface of the planet. However the air was breathable, but the Sovereignty troops wore protective clothing to protect themselves from the sun.


"Over there." Tomas said, pointing to a series of caves.

The twenty four Sovereignty special forces soldiers hefted their blaster rifles and headed for the rocky opening.

They headed into the darkness, and after several minutes of exploring, the located a tunnel that lead deeper underground. Tomas lead them through this, but the whole time, he swore he saw shadows moving in the darkness. But he deemed this a trick of the light, bouncing off the rock walls.

They came to a large cave, twenty meters of so in height, as far as they could tell, and around thirty to forty meters in diameter. Again Tomas caught sight of a shadow that seemed to move. His battle senses tingled.

The attack came, out of nowhere.

Somewhere in the back of the Sovereignty ranks, a shadow moved in the darkness, and one of the soldiers was lifted bodily off his feet and hurled two meters to the right. Three more soldiers followed suit.

Tomas took aim with his blaster and fired at one of the moving shadows.

There was a screech and then nothing. He aimed at another shadow, locked in battle with anothe soldier. He was about to fire when something knocked his blaster out of his grasp.

"Stop!" A voice bellowed close to his ear.

"Tell them to stand down." The same voice said.

"Or what?"

"You will be killed."

Tomas sighed slightly but did as ordered. 'Everyone, drop your weapons and stand down!" He shouted. The Sovereignty troops instantly complied.

"You will come with us." The voice said, pushing him forward.

"Walk."

He was guided down a series of tunnels, the captive Sovereignty troops following along.

"Wraith Seven, this is Admiral Keyan. Please report your status." Keyan said into the comlink.

The Oracle had just finished off the last Narcati ships in the Af'El system. Tomas, who had been covertly sent to destroy the Narcati forces on the ground had no reported in.

"This is Commander Markenson." A voice returned. Keyan knew instantly that Markenson was the Wraith Seven's executive officer, "Captain Tomas took a group of special forces on an scouting mission. That was over two hours ago and they haven't reported back."

"What about the Narcati?" Keyan asked.

"We are tracking the Narcati force, about three klicks from here. Captain Tomas' last communication stated that they were entering a series of caves, about a klick north of our landing site. It appears that the Narcati ground team is on their way there."

"Understood. We have located the Narcati transport. It is sitting all by itself. We are preparing to destroy the ship from orbit. Does Tomas need air support? I can have Tie Bombers standing by." Keyan said.

"I do not know. I am organizing a unit to locate the captain."

"Belay that. Get a team together, and destroy any Narcati presence on the ground. I will have Tie Bombers standing by."

"Yes sir. I will keep you updated." Markenson said.

"You do that. Oracle out."






"So! you are the ones who have been hunting us for weeks." A shadow said.

Tomas looked up and realized that the long caravan of captive Sovereignty forces, hearded along a long winding underground path by what could only be the Defel. He knew that the Defel lived underground, to protect themselves from the destructive atmosphere. What he did not understand was why he or his men were still alive.

The shadow waited. The difference about this cavern was it was large and well lit. There were glowlamps scattered throughout the area, on walls, posts, or other things. He say a group of shadows in front of him, and he knew that the other Sovereignty forces were behind him, as well as the Defel guards who had captured them.

"We haven't hunted you." Tomas told the human-shaped shadow.

"Then why were you meddling about in the upper caves?" Came the quick response.

"We were trying to find the Narcati." Tomas answered.

The shadow lifted an arm in a guesture. The ropes that bound his hands were taken off, and he was herded forward.

"The Narcati?" The Defel, obviously a leader of some sort, asked thoughtfully.

"Yes. They look like insects, but they have powerful weapons."

He paused.

"Have they been hunting you?"

The shadow laughed slightly.

"Yes. We have been defending ourselves for weeks. At first they came into the upper caves, with their energy weapons. We easily destroyed those first few scout teams. Then they threw grenade-type weapons, but we were able to throw them back."

The Defel leader paused.

"But now they have gotten smarter. They come into the caves and use machines that spit fire. We have to retreat down a little further to survive."

Tomas nodded.

"They are our enemy as well." He said.

"And who is 'our'?"

"We are the Outer-Rim Sovereignty. We have been freeing peoples from them, and hunting them."

"Why?"

"They made a mistake of attacking allies of ours."

"And what happens when they do that?"

"What?"

"Your allies."

"The Narcati launched an unprovoked act of violence on the poeple of Sh'shuun. This did not sit well with our leader. The Sovereignty drove the Narcati from Sh'shuun and we have been pursuing them ever since."

"And if the Defel were to become your allies?" The shadow asked.

Tomas was taken aback.

"Hold on here. The Sovereignty beleived that the Defel and the Narcati were working together. That is one of the reasons we are here."

A distant explosion shook the room slightly. Suddenly, another Defel hurriedly entered the room.

"The Narcati! They have attacked the North entrance, we have to fall back"

The Defel leader cats a glance at Tomas.

"Does that answer your questions? We have to give up more of our ground now."

Tomas looked at him, just as another explosion went off.

"Give us back our weapons and we will fight them off." He said.

The Defel leader hesitated. But he knew, as well as Tomas did, that he had no choice, and no reason to hold the Sovereignty forces. He nodded reluctantly.

"Follow me." The Defel said, and he and six other shadows started off into a side tunnel. Tomas, now armed, followed along with the other special forces.

The tunnel went up and up, untill it leveled out after a few hundred feet. The Defel, in front, crouched down, and Tomas signaled for the special forces to do likewise.

The Defel leader looked up as Tomas crouched next to him.

"Twenty meters ahead is where the entrance to the Northern caves is located. Some of our warriors are stalling them." He said.

Tomas nodded, and made another hand signal. The special forces stealthily made their way forward.

The path widened, and then opened up entirely into a large cave. Tomas saw several shadows hurling sharp objects at the Narcati.

Tomas had never seen a Narcati warrior before. They were huge, perhaps seven to eight feet tall. They were humanoid, but had four arms, and a elongated head with large lanternlike eyes. They almost looked like a preying mantis.

But these bugs had flamethrowers, with which the created a wall of fire. Tomas signalled again and the Sovereignty forces crept into the cave and then opened up with their blasters.





"Lets move out." Markenson said.

A dozen or so of regular Army soldiers walked down the ramp of the Bird of Prey and headed out into the desolate landscape. They followed on the last known trajectory of Tomas' group.

After a while they heard explosions in the distance. Markenson signaled, and the troops began to run. The sound of the explosions came nearer.

They ran up a hill, blasters ready, to see...

To see Captain Tomas walking forward, with twenty-four Sovereignty special forces soldiers.

"Captain Tomas!" Markenson said, after seeing the commanding officer.

Tomas nodded to him.

Markenson made his way over to Tomas, and then noticed bodies. Lots of them. All over the ground.

"Sir...?" Markenson asked.

"They are the Narcati team we were sent to destroy." He guestured to his left, "The Defel here were very happy when they heard we had completed our original mission."

"Original mission...?"

"Yes. I must contact Admiral Keyan. It seems that the Defel wish to open diplomatic negotiations with the Outer-Rim Sovereignty.

"We have alot of cleaning up to do."